Vancouver Island bears are huge and abundant, albeit only in the black phase. The best bet for colored black bears is the interior of British Columbia, Alberta or Saskatchewan. All these provinces produce the odd giant black bear. In British Columbia, baiting is illegal and all hunts are spot - and - stalk or hound hunts. The other provinces allow baiting. Alaska offers some excellent black bear hunting but the costs to get to the best areas can be prohibitive. The cheapest hunts take place in Quebec and the Eastern Canadian provinces, but success is low.
In general, bear hunting below the 49th parallel isn’t quite as easy as it is in Canada and Alaska, except in a few of the Rocky Mountain States. The northern reaches of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan have fairly good bear populations. Some big ones are taken, but it’s nothing like in Canada. There is the odd large boar killed in the East or Upper Midwest, but tags are often difficult to obtain.
The best places to hunt grizzlies are British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. All these hunts are spot - and - stalk and can take place from the coastal salmon streams to the tundra of the central Arctic.
Genetically identical to the brown bears of coastal Alaska, the largest grizzlies are taken along the coast of British Columbia. That said, anywhere along the “political” boundary between where brown bears become grizzlies is a good place to hunt for big silvertips.
Traditionally, the largest brown bears are found on Kodiak Island but of late, several monster bears have been taken from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. These huge mammals are hunted in the spring and fall along salmon streams, berry patches or green slides. The weather is often a factor on a brown bear hunt: Hunters can expect rain, rain and more rain interspersed with gale - force winds. Nice.
Polar bears are still hunted in the Northwest Territories by the Inuit trappers and by lucky sport hunters. These bears must be hunted from a dogsled pulled by a dog team. This hunt is a true adventure that shouldn’t be considered by the faint of heart. Temperatures range to a low of minus 50 degrees F with wind - chill factors falling to minus 100! Only polar bears taken from certain areas are allowed to be imported into the United States.